Flori resigns herself to the rubbish situation.
"STOP! We are here to talk!" She says, raising her voice to be heard clearly and keeping the phrase simple as she conjures a slippery substance in the man's pathway to slow him down.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
With a manic kind of hurry in her voice, Cailyn says "Flori, it would be a breech of etiquette to say I told you so, so my manners will not allow me to do so." frantically trying to pull out her worn glove which seems to have gotten caught in her belt.
Finally it rips free, accompanied with a bright cry of relief, and then another that calls for "Cleo! Eat his eyeballs!" pointing at the
Her lovely old owl ignores the gender mentioned and instead rips into the red haired woman, since anyone with a raven on her shoulder is bad news. Owls know this.
Vigny doesn't doubt in the least at any point along the way that there will be no talking or negotiating. Therefore, she takes a moment to quietly explain there are a number of thralls present in the building.
"They are slaves, and have no choice in being here. Don't harm them unless you absolutely can't avoid it."
Cailyn's owl turns the woman's fair face into a horror mask of slashed flesh, blood spattering those nearby. Orchid shifts and moves up to take the front line. Flori summons a shimmering coating of magical grease that fills the central isle in front of the approaching pair.
The red-haired woman snarls and screeches in rage, turning her attention to the threatening owl. Gesturing at the creature with a clawed fingers, she snaps a hissed word. In response, the owl falls to the dirt floor, no longer moving.
Vigny walks over to give Tazio a hand with the horse.
"That's a little too tight" she suggests, loosening the strap some.
When that's done Vigny takes a step back, readying to leave. In a sad but firm voice Vigny tries again to bring Tazio around.
"I didn't misunderstand. I couldn't misunderstand. I'm sorry but that was the whole point of Sandru having the conversation with me."
Vigny almost pleads with him.
"We really need to go talk to him. We both have the same problem, and the same cause of it. We have to air this with him, it can't be left to fester."
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Vigny shifts to her right, intending to hold off the group of warriors coming around the far side of the fire. She takes a more defensive approach given their numbers, choosing to use the new shield from Brinewall along with her broken-back seax.
As she blocks their way, Vigny calls upon Cayden Cailean in the name of freedom and strikes with the short heavy blade at the first among her foes to approach.
Vigny's blade slips in and out of the bleary-eyed warrior who clutches his bleeding belly, but remains standing. In spite of the grevious wound, he manages to slip past the woman's shield to slash her sword arm. Two others close on her, but she fends off their attacks.
A hard-faced woman presses Orchid. Not intimidated by the shift to wolfshape, she slashes the shifter with her axe. Another warrior rises from her celebration-induced slumber.
Asvig downs a potion and moves up along the north edge of the room to make his way around the magical grease.
Round 2
Ignoring the minor wound Orchid grasps the womans ankle in her powerful jaws and tears with all the might of her enhanced neck muscles. The result is... unpleasant.
Cailyn feels relieved. There was a moment there when she had this twinge of guilt at having Cleo rend the woman's face off. What is Cailyn's first reaction might be wrong that the raven was a familiar and that made the woman some kind of wizard, and everyone knows (from reading) to kill the mage first. The woman could have been a thrall like Vigny mentioned and that would make Cailyn a bad person.
But she killed Cleo with a word, so No, Cailyn was still a good person.
"You killed my bird, you meat faced hag!" Cailyn yelled at the woman, getting the woman's attention before smiling brightly and snapping her finger "Just kidding" It is then the hooting death call comes from behind the woman to rip into the back of her head, turning her head red in more ways than her hair.
Feeling entirely overwhelmed by numbers, Flori starts chanting a familar spell.
Wolf-Orchid pulls her attacker to the ground and savages the woman's leg viciously. Cailyn's sleeping owl vanishes and reappears to exact its vengeance upon the red-haired witch who goes down, lifeless. Flori begins a summoning spell.
Vigny gives a litte ground, sliding back to beside Orchid. It would be very easy to become surrounded by the many oncoming warriors, and that wouldn't do at all.
She now faces a new opponent, and deals out the same treatment to him with her seax.
Vigny finishes off her current opponent, but there are more closing in ... and even more rousing themselves.
The woman that Wolf-Orchid downed flails ineffectively at her. Another Ulfen moves up to strike at the shifter, but in trying to avoid stepping on his comrade-in-arms, doesn't even come close to hitting the shifter. Another attacker swings at Vigny, but she easily takes the blow on her shield.
As Flori is making the last gestures for her summoning spell, another warrior takes the opportunity to close in on her and savage her with her axe.
Asvig finally joins the fray; Leaping down from the upper ledge to slip his spear behind Vigny's defense and nick her shoulder.
Vigny continues to shift back, this time coming alongside the warrior who has pounced on Flori. As she does so, Vigny also recites the words to a protective ward. Upon completing the words, her appearance changes. Vigny's skin transitions from it's usual pale, slightly ruddy color to cool bluish-gray. The contours of her face, cheekbones, jawline, and such, become almost angular.
She redirects her seax, sliding it into the ribs of the warrior vexing Flori while telling Flori "make for the door".
Orchid wrenches another warrior to the ground, ignoring her first prone foe in favor of the slightly more dangerous one. Hearing Flori's cry of pain behind her sends protective instincts into overdrive but the wolf knows to never turn its back on a foe so she trusts in the pack to protect her sister and deals with the threats in front of her first.
Cleo has a clump of blood witch hair into her face, causing her attack to miss the bad man that she attempted to peck to death. Cailyn fired her crossbow at the same gentleman, but just missed.
Flori manages to hold it together for the last second to complete her spell and immediately vanishes from her spot before reappearing in the doorway and almost slumping against the frame.
A spherical lump of animated granite with two long arm-like appendages appears between Orchid and Vigny as it swings a sucker-punch towards Asvig.
Round 3
Vigny stabs another of the warriors who cries out in pain, but doesn't fall back. Wolf-Orchid pulls another Ulfen to the dirt floor in a snarling, gnashing attack. Cailyn's owl and her crossbow bolt fail to find their targets. Flori's elemental also misses striking true as it acclimates to its new environs.
One of Wolf-Orchid's downed opponents attempts to retake her feet, but the shifter puts an end to that effort with a snapping of bloody teeth.
The three warriors attacking Wolf-Orchid, the elemental, and Vigny all miss, as does Asvig. Another sleepy woman rises and grabs a nearby battleaxe, while another man approaches to join the attack against Vigny.
Vigny continues to move toward the door to avoid becoming surrounded. She remains engaged with the same warrior, trying to go over his shield with a chop at his neck.
Cleo is a mess of the remnants of the witch until her flapping finally results in the biggest clump to splat to the floor. Then she rips into the man between her and the wolf.
Cailyn spends her moment loading her crossbow and casting her favorite spell on it.
Vigny waits for a response. And waits. And waits. Just as she's about to assume he's purposely ignoring her, he speaks.
"There's no way you can understand how I feel about him," he says quietly without turning to face her. "You're a woman."
He steps to the other horse and busies himself with adjusting a harness that doesn't need adjusting. "He'll be mine in the end," he continues. "So go target someone else with your feminine wiles. Sandru is smart enough to see through your manipulations. He'll see the truth."
He finally turns to face her and makes a shooing gesture with his hands.
"Just go away."
Vigny is baffled by Tazio's response. It's one thing to not believe her. But he frames the whole thing in a way that seems kind of creepy to her. And the shooing was plain wacky. It's obvious though he's not going engage with her on the subject any further.
Her lips are pursed in disappointment, but Vigny says only "I really am sorry."
She walks away to go find Sandru. As she goes she talks under her breath.
"Well Cayden Cailean Sir, do you think you could help me out with some of those 'feminine wiles' I hear I'm supposed to have? It might make things a lot easier. Just saying...
For better or worse the most recent warrior to confront the blood-stained wolf is more capable than his fellows and keeps his balance well. This doesn't save him from the huge, bloody fangs but does stop him ending up on the floor like the others.
-----------------------
Safe in the doorway Flori fumbles for the healing potion Orchid made her carry while her elemental turns its fists on Asvig once more. Rather unsportingly it mixes in a kick this time that sends the viking briefly cross-eyed!
Vigny finishes off her opponent as she steps back. Cleo descends on the Ulfen between her and Wolf-Orchid. And like the predator she is, she makes quick work of the prone warrior.
Wolf-Orchid doesn't manage to trip her opponent, but her vicious teeth combined with his previous injuries are more than enough to bring him to the ground as nothing but meat.
Flori's elemental batters and bashes at the partially drunk Asvig, causing him to stumble, but the tall man keeps his feet.
Asvig and the other woman that's still standing, moving to flank the elemental and Asvig manages to stab it with his spear. The elemental thunders on, though.
One of the awakened warriors approaches closer and Wolf-Orchid manages to dodge a clumsily thrown hand axe.
Round 5
As a new opponent approaches her, Vigny sidesteps to her right. Doing so catches the warrior with either the elemental or herself to his back. She presses her with a stabbing attack from under her raised shield.
Orchid turns about and lunges for the nearest legs.
----------------------------------
With the conflict finally winding down Flori stays by the door, out of the way of any further danger while her elemental continues to swing large, lumpy fists!
Cleo rips and pecks, letting the frustration of her calm little life come hooting out as she turns to the drunk man that threatened her little one.
Her little one aims her now magicked crossbow and firing it at the guard that Vigny is battling. The resulting thud could be flesh or could be the wood behind the flesh.
Catching one of the warriors between the elemental and herself, Vigny stabs into him deeply and Wolf-Orchid finishes him off. The fist of Flori's elemental makes a sickening crunching sound as it connects with Asvig's prominant nose. Cailyn's owl nearly finishes him off with beak and talon; The man staggering under the assault. Her crossbow isn't quite as effective, though, unless assault on the longhouse's timbers was her goal.
Asvig fails to stab the elemental with his spear. One of the warriors attempts to knock Cleo off his leader to no effect. Another woman throws a hand axe, missing Vigny by a safe margin.
Round 6
Vigny walks swiftly and determinedly up to the bloodied Asvig. She would have preferred him to have been the last one standing at the end so he could have watched absolutely everything of his crumble to nothing. But, now will do in a pinch.
As she nears Asvig Vigny delivers her message to him.
"Do you know why we're here? Who we are? It's important you know we we're the one's who slaughtered the warriors you sent to ambush us by the Thundering River. This is retribution."
Vigny bats away Asvig's defense with her shield and shoves her seax into his chest.
Cleo now has the taste of the man, which is rather unfortunate for that man, while Cailyn moves up and fires at the first one she can see. This time the thud is wet, very unwood sounding.
Orchid bounds at the woman who threw away her weapon and demonstrates why having your weapons in your mouth us so much more effective.
--------------
At Flori's urging the elemental turns on the remaining warrior, pummelling him with stoney fists of justice!
Asvig has no last words of defiance. No final insults. His final act is to gurgle wetly before crumpling to the straw covering the packed earth floor.
Wolf-Orchid, Cailyn's crossbow, and Flori's elemental make quick work of the remaining opposition and you're left with the silence of the lodge-house, only broken by the crackling of the flames of the central fire.
Combat Ends!
Checking the side room that Asvig emerged from reveals a comfortable bedroom furnished with a massive feather bed and a few chests filled with clothing and personal items. Beyond the bedroom is a small storage chamber with a number of chests as well as weapons and armor hanging from the rafters.
The door at the end of the lodge opens into a kitchen and it is here that the so-called non-combatents of the household have taken refuge. Judging by the knives and spears held in shaking hands, however, several of the young adults as well as some of the older children won't go down without a struggle.
The older woman that met you at the door steps forward, placing herself boldly in front of the dozen-and-a-half individuals that have retreated to this smoke-filled stuffy chamber. Her eyes glance past you to take in the carnage in the main room beyond. She looks back to you and squares her shoulders.
"We submit to your strength," she says in a firm, but heavily accented voice. "You have demonstrated your will over Asvig's and we recognize that."
A few small voices begin to protest, but she silences them immediately with a glance and a few sharply snapped words in their native tongue. Tension-filled silence fills the room.
"Lina. Varena. Osvar." She barks out the names and two young women and a young man step forward. One of the young woman is the one that originally opened the door to greet you.
"Please accept our offer of metfé," she states as if speaking the words to a ritual. "They are young, healthy, and strong and will serve you well as thralls. In exchange, we ask that you leave the remainder of our household unspoiled."
The young man attempts to protest once more, but she silences him with a glare and hissed words.
She turns back to you, awaiting your response as one of the infants fusses in the arms of an older girl.
Vigny puts away her weapon and shield.
Before she says anything in response to the woman who is acting as speaker for the former thralls, she goes to a pantry and begins to set out enough cups for all those present. Next she fetches a keg of ale and begins to fill the cups, giving her reply in skald as she does so.
"Enginn ykkar er þræll. Við þiggjum ekki þá metfé sem þið bjóðið upp á því það er illska sem við getum ekki þolað. Ég er þjónn Cayden Cailean hins káta. Hann heldur því fram að enginn eigi að hafa vald yfir öðrum. Allir eru frjálsir til að haga lífi sínu eins og þeim sýnist."
"Þið eruð öll frjáls til að vera eða fara eins og ykkur sýnist. En fyrst takið þið bolla og drekkið frelsi ykkar."
"None of you are thralls. We do not accept the metfé you offer because it is an evil we cannot abide. I am a servant of Cayden Cailean the Merry. He holds that no person should have power over another. All are free to make their own lives as they see fit."
"You are all free to stay or go as you please. But first, take a cup and drink to your freedom."
Vigny begins to pass out the cups of ale, also giving each "frjáls manneskja" one of the gold arm rings with the drink. By way of explanation she tells them the arm rings are their wages for their service at Asvig's farmstead.
After raising her tankard to toast their futures, Vigny adds some general housekeeping advice to orient them in the immediate future.
"Við munum taka verðlaunin okkar úr persónulegum eigum Ásvigs og fylgjenda hans. Allt annað á þessum bæ er ykkar og þið skiptið sanngjarnlega á milli ykkar. Takið það allt, þið eigið það skilið. Ásvig stal frá þér."
"Ég get ekki sagt ykkur hvað þið eigið að gera, en mér finnst betra að fara héðan. Það gæti ekki verið öruggt ef Ásvig á vini eða ættingja sem gætu komið í heimsókn. Við munum snúa aftur til Kalsgarðs. Við munum fylgja hverjum ykkar sem vill fara þangað."
"We will take our prizes from among Asvig's and his followers personal possessions. Everything else at this farmstead is yours to divide fairly among yourselves. Take it all, you are owed it. Asvig stole from you."
"I cannot tell you what to do, but it seems to me it would be better to leave this place. It may not be safe if Asvig has friends or relatives who may come calling. We will be returning to Kalsgard. We will escort any of you who want to go there."
Cailyn gives her bloody bird a good scratch behind her neck while Cleo eats a little more and then goes POOF. "Such a good bird" she sighs as she looks around "Flori, your stone creature was lovely. Hard and heavy, the perfect summons for such a tight space!" she gushes to her friend as she works heavy unbloodied bolts out of the wall.
A comfortable avarice bounces in her blue eyes at all the spoils of war. Some of what is spoiled as she works out the Skald that Vigny is saying. It is still new enough the scholar that it is not second nature.
Her little frown grows deeper at every Plop into the cup. She does hold her tongue though in front of the defeated. Ruining the visage of strength is not worth the lost profit.
Vigny notices Cailyn and the less than content expression she's wearing. She carries a cup of ale over to Cailyn and gives it to her.
"It must be this way. All the things here are the product of their labor and service, which they never consented to give. If we come here and kill their oppressors, tell them they are free, and leave them with nothing more we're mocking their freedom, cutting them off at the knees, robbing them yet again because we're the ones with the weapons."
"If that's what we think we deserve, what really is the difference between Asvig and us? I think when a person justifies what they're doing by pointing at a different decent thing they've done, they know what they're doing is wrong. Freeing these people doesn't permit us to take from them. I will not budge on this."
Cailyn's mouth firms into a line, her eyes still holding its simmer even though she sips from the cup "We didn't leave them with nothing. Everything in this place, the tools, the clothes, the food, the animals, For Abadar's sake, the building itself is well made and worth more than any one of those rings." Cailyn sighs and sips again, then sighs again "I understand." even if she doesn't like it. "I just wish you had talked to us first." even though the other woman probably knows the discussion would have been much like this with Cailyn doing her best to convince the others as well.
Finally she downs the rest and then says "We should get something from the charity at least." giving Vigny one last that was softer but clearly held the sympathetic undertones of 'you are a good person'.
"Excuse me" she hailed the matron "We need information. Asvig's warriors attacked us while we were travelling, which is why we are here. Also based on his reaction, was overjoyed we came to him instead of having to Hunt us, meaning he was planning even more skulduggery of our persons. Do you per chance know why?"
Clearly skilled at handling gift horses, the older woman introduces herself as Skalma before giving instructions to the eldest of the survivors. They nod quickly and set about their assigned tasks. Some of them begin gathering foodstuffs from the kitchen while others head outside.
"You claim no desire for metfé, so I will pay for our freedom with what I know," she declares with suspicion once her orders have been given. "Asvig's cousin, Theoin, and his household will be here any time so unless you wish another battle with a foe that isn't quite so drunk or sleepy then you will take what spoils you desire and return to Kalsgard."
She explains that Theoin and his household are arriving today for a funeral feast for Asvig's own ring-giver, an old jarl and renowned Ulfen raider named Snorri Stone-Eye, who is scheduled to be burned with his funeral ship tomorrow at dawn.
As a woman that keeps her ears open, Skalma also knows that Asvig rented boats from the Rimerunners Guild and ordered the attack on your group at the behest of someone connected to the guild. There's been a number of tasks he's accomplished for them, stealing a sword and kidnapping a guide chief among them. The guide's name was Ulf Gormundr and he was here for a day before being moved somewhere else. Asvig mentioned that Ulf would soon be joining Snorri Stone-Eye, so it's probable that he's being placed on the funeral ship to be burned to death. She has no idea what became of the sword.
Vigny nods at Skalma's information.
"Thank you for the warning. We'll only need a few minutes to be ready to go. Do you all want to go to the city with us, or find your own path? I think it would be very dangerous for anyone to stay here. This cousin of Asvig's is going to be very upset I'd imagine. I doubt things would go well for anyone found here."
As everyone is packing up to be ready to leave, Vigny takes an opportunity when it presents itself to address Cailyn's complaint.
"I didn't talk to the rest of you first for two reasons. The first was it was a delicate moment. They were ready to fight for their lives if they needed to. If we were standing around squabbling over spoils we would have seemed to be in disarray. At best we would not have been trusted nearly so much because of the possibility of what we said first changing later. At worst, any disarray might have seemed like an opportunity to seize upon to save their lives. That could have gotten people killed for no good reason."
"The second was my position was immovable, like I said. I have taken vows to uphold certain principles, not just in words but in actions. I acted as I did because I could not do anything else, even if it cost us a bit of money. Nor would I have wanted to act differently if I had a choice."
Vigny also boops Flori with her wand to get her healed up enough to be fit for travel.
When everything is packed up and all the people are ready to move, Vigny floats a suggestion to her companions and Skalma.
"It might be a good idea to burn the house down. It would make what happened here more confusing for Asvig's cousin. It would also make it hard to figure out who might still be alive. He might be less determined to find survivors, should he be inclined to try, if he doesn't know who he might be able to find alive."
It takes a couple of days before Vigny finds time alone with Sandru. He's just finished a heated debate with Wilda regarding the inclusion of certain spices in the daily meals and is returning to his wagon when he notices her and invites her over.
"So," he asks with a raised eyebrow. "Have you had a chance to explain the situation to Tazio, yet?"
~~~~~
"Setting fire to the lodge would now mean that we were directly involved in what happened," Skalma replies to Vigny's suggestion. "That's not a risk I care to take. We will find anonymity in Kalsgard. We're faceless to those like Asvig or Theoin."
----
You make it back to the city by late afternoon and spend the rest of the day liquidating all the valuables into ready coin. Careful inquiries also reveal where Snorri Stone-Eye's funeral ship will be burned at dawn tomorrow morning.
You also find Shunsen waiting for you in the common room of the inn you're staying at.
When the group succeeded in penetrating the mysteries of the Vault in the ruined castle and revealing dear Ameiko's regal past....and future?....Shunsen was moved to tears and wonder. Here she was with dear friends, old and new, on an adventure that none could have dreamed of.
She enveloped Ameiko in a long hug, whispering in her ear that she'd help her through this to the end.
After the glow of the discoveries faded, but never were gone, she settled back into the well-known rhythms of caravan live, scouting with Shalelu, tending animals, chatting and laughing with her friends and other caravanners.
However, one morning Sandru pulls her aside ....
As Shunsen is ready to head out with Miseldana for a morning patrol, Sandru stops her. Pulling her aside from the auburn-haired scout, he lowers his voice.
"Can you talk to her?" he questions in earnest. "This whole idea that Ameiko's supposed to be the empress of Minkai is amazing as a thought experiment, but not something that warrants us heading over the Crown of the World, right? It's crazy." He doesn't wait for a response.
"Maybe she'll listen to you because she's certainly not listening to me. Talk to her - please."
Shunsen blinks at Sandru's departing back, startled by the vehemence of his objection. She starts to shout something after him, but stops himself, instead deciding to talk to Ameiko after her patrol.
Later, a bit dirty and dusty , she waves to Miseldana and goes to Ameiko's wagon, respectfully knocking on the side to let her know she was here.
Hearing her friend bid her enter, she hopped up and entered the covered wagon, "Sorry for my state Ameiko-san, but I had to talk to you about Sandru. He's seems very set on not accompanying us with you to Minkai..."
Along the way, with her recent experiences bolstering her confidence, Shunsen finally cracks open her mother's scrolls and begins to read whenever she has the chance. After, her friends find her practicing a new set of forms alongside the caravan, moving through the dance-like movements. Occasionally, it appears as though she fades away as she moves through the shadows and light cast by the road-side fire.
As she practices, Shunsen realizes that her falchion doesn't suit the movements her Mother has prescribed, instead using whispering strike. Finding it was suitable for some of the movements, she realized that a longer, but similar blade would be more appropriate. Having nothing on hand, she asked one of the caravanners who was skilled in woodcraft to fashion her a longer, wood version of whispering strike. Satisfied, she continued her Mother's written instructions as the caravan journeyed North.
Within her Mother's instructions she found a note revealing a cousin , a cooper, to visit in Kalsgard , should the caravan pass through.
After arriving in Kalsgard, Shunsen asks to accompany Sandru into town to re-supply, stating that she has family she should call upon.
A pleasant morning of tea and talk of her Mother and herself was passed with her cousin, who gave her a silk handkerchief that had once belonged to her Mother....for luck.
Shunsen returned to the inn to discover that her friends has ventured off to confront the leader of the group that had accosted them at the river. Hoping they were doing well, she sat to wait for them ordering food and drink, and gently rubbing her Mother's handkerchief that she'd tied around her neck.
She looks up as her friends tumble into the common room, discussing their victory at the lodge, "What, going off and having fun without me?" Shunsen jests, signaling the innkeep for more drinks and food for her friends.
Cailyn's heart is won with the signal for more food and drink. In fact she mimics the gesture to double up on the order as she plops her skirts down next the Shunsen. "A bunch of mostly shirtless muscle bound men... and women... seemed exceedingly pleased we came calling at their charming abode. Then they tried to kill us." some delicious steaming pie like meat thing was slammed down in front of her making her sigh "Hmmmm, oh and Cleo ate off a witch's face." she says as she hooks the first mouth full in with TRUE toe curling delight.
She managed to chew and swallow but asking "And you?"
Ameiko rolls her eyes at Shunsen's words.
"I can't believe that he went to you about that. We talked about it already." She mutters a few Varisian phrases under her breath questioning Sandru's parentage. "Well, I talked about it. He just wanted to whine like a little school-boy that's afraid to cross the road because it's 'scary'."
She locks eyes with the half-orc. "This is important, Shunsen. It's where I need to go and I'm not going to be dissuaded from it by vague threats of the 'unknown', so you can just go back to him and explain that if he's worried that he might get a boo-boo or a scratch on one of his precious wagons then he doesn't have to go and I'll happily buy his entire bloody caravan and he can find a way back from Kalsgard."
Faced with confronting Sandru alone, Vigny's courage begins to melt away. Her resolve doesn't waver though. For a couple of days Vigny stalks Sandru, looking for what she could imagine would be the perfect time, nobody anywhere nearby, Sandru seeming to be in an excellent mood, not too early in the day, not too late in the evening, not too close to a meal, not too busy, not relaxing, the list of factors she could think of to consider was very long.
In the end Sandru comes to Vigny, taking her aside to ask for an update. Looking uncomfortable and a little forlorn, Vigny tells him what happened, more or less.
"I did, a couple of days ago. He didn't believe me."
It was now or never so Vigny marshals some nerve.
"You shouldn't have asked me to do that. I was going to have to lie to Tazio in some way if I was going to keep you out of it. I thought it over from every angle I could think of, but no matter what I told him I was going to have to throw somebody under the wagon wheels because how could I know? So, I chose myself"
"In the end I told him the truth, that you had asked me to tell him. I like Tazio, I couldn't just lie to him. He didn't believe me anyway. He won't talk to me now."
"It makes sense. This is the sort of thing that needed to come from you. Maybe he would quit, or maybe not. But you putting it on me to handle wasn't fair to him, and it wasn't fair to me."
Vigny asks for a nice dark beer at the bar before finding a seat, which is actually a bench at one of the tables. When her beer arrives she adds a bowl of stew to her order.
She's a little surprised by the account Cailyn gives Shunsen of evenys at the farm. It's all boast and no information. Vigny thinks it's almost like Cailyn is her, and she's Cailyn.
"Found out some really interesting things too. We freed the people held in thralldom there, and one of them had a lot to say. The big news she had was Asvig had his people ambush us at the river under orders from a group called the Rimerunners Guild."
"He's done other things for them too lately, stole a sword and kidnapped a guide named Ulf Gormundr. She said Asvig implied he was going to kill the guide at a funeral happening at dawn tomorrow. Probably by putting him on the ship, which will be burned."
"So no time for relaxing, looks like we'll be going to a funeral."
"Why do they burn an entire ship for a funeral? While it does seem poetic and grandiose, wouldn't it better server the survivor's interests to keep a serviceable vessel?" Cailyn normally is all for poetic and grandiose when it comes within the context of a story. When it comes to trade, she has her mother's practicality though.
She also sighs a little at already having another task, but it is a small one. "Well if we might be seeing the end of this quaint town, since we'll be disrupting a hallowed tradition, I'd like to get to know their history and tales just a wee bit more." Cailyn took a nice gulp of her drink, and picked up her plate to mingle.
Not realizing how hungry she was, Shunsen digs into a savory meat pie that is presented to the table and drinks deep of the local beer. Wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, she finished listening to her friend's accounting of what happened at the homestead, "Sorry I missed all of the fun, I was helping Sandru with finding supplies and visited a cousin. He gave me this, " she says, indicating the red silk scarf around her neck, "I once belonged to my Mother...and he gave me some pointers for my calligraphy and this..." she says, patting the leather scroll case holding her Mother's parchments.
Taking another drink , she says, "Maybe, it's the value of the ship that matches the value of the person who died? " Shunsen says with a shrug, "Either way, it sounds like this Asvig has a reckonning coming his way, and this time I don't intend on missing out!"
Vigny just shrugs, finding deep speculation on the ship burning uninteresting.
"It's just rich people doing rich people things. They burn a ship because they can. That's the message, nothing complicated about it."
Shunsen gives Ameiko a look, one that makes her look so much like her Mother sternly admonishing Ameiko or Shunsen for not completing their Calligraphy lessons when they were young.
"Really? " she whines, then drooping her shoulders, mutters, "Fine, I'll talk to him again..."
She gives her friend another hug, whispering in her ear, "Don't worry, I'll carry you over the Top of the World myself if need be."
Later, she stalks up to Sandru, her scowl scaring away the other caravanner he was chatting with. "Her answer's the same...and so is mine. I'm going with her , with or without you. " she declares, the her face softens, "Listen, Sand....this is important...about as important as anything that's ever happened to her, and us. Put away your caravan leader worries, and think about what waits for us on the other side of the World!" she finished, her eyes aglow with the possibilities.
As you're finishing up your dinner meal and discussing who to question to find out about Snorri's funeral ship, a Varki woman in a thick hide cloak takes a seat at your table as if familiar with you.
At the questioning glances and raised eyebrows, the woman's lip curls up into a subtle smile. "Just a friend having drinks with her friends, right, Friend?" she comments, lifting her tankard and taking a small sip as she gives you a hidden wink. "Nothing wrong with that. My friends always have time to chat with their friend, Uksahkka." She glances around the room and seems satisfied that no one is paying any more attention to your group than to any other.
She leans in a little closer and her voice drops to a lower level, but not suspiciously so to anyone attempting to listen.
"Let me unburden my troubles to my friends. My partner - a skilled guide by the name of Ulf Gormundr - recently took a job that came out of nowhere, considering that he was on the outs with almost all the local merchant guilds. He was to develop a new trade route through the Grungir Forest for a local chieftain. He went out to the chieftain's farm nearly a week ago to get the final details and initial payment before picking me up to join him. I haven't heard from him since."
A trace of worry crosses the woman's ruddy face before she takes another drink from her tankard and glances around again. She continues.
"A few days ago I went out to the farm to find out what happened to him and was told that he never arrived. They also gave me these for my concerns ..." She gestures with a subtle finger up to her face and you notice that the right side of her face is covered with recent bruises.
"Now what, might you ask, would be your concern in all this?" She looks around at you all and smirks. "The chieftain's name was Asvig Longthews and the buzz is that he's very recently met with his own comeuppance by some skilled southerners. Now while you look like skilled southerners yourselves, I make no inference that you had anything to do with this. I'm just a curious guide that would like to know if my southerner friends have heard any rumors or had any information regarding my missing partner."
Specializing in trade with Tian Xia over the Crown of the World as well as along the rivers of the Lands of the Linnorm Kings, the Rimerunners Guild is extremely influential in and around Kalsgard, with many local merchants and their retainers and much of the local economy beholden to it.
A merchant of high repute named Thorborg Silverskorr leads the guild, but she is rarely seen in public, and has numerous connections with the wealthy and powerful of Kalsgard, including Linnorm King Sveinn Blood-Eagle himself. The Rimerunners’ guildhall is located on the waterfront in the Jade Quarter, and is staffed by dozens of well-armed guards, both day and night.
~~~~~
Sandru's eyes close at Vigny's castigations.
"You're right," he says after a moment of consideration. "That was wrong of me and I shouldn't have asked you to do that." He shakes his head. "That was unfair. I would blame it on being distracted and worried for Ameiko, but that would be an excuse. I just didn't ... I didn't want to hurt him and I pushed that responsibility on to you and you deserve better than that." He sighs and chuckles. "I'm really not good at dealing with feelings on that level."
He holds out his hand.
"I'm sorry and I'll make it up to you somehow. Any suggestions?" he asks with a crooked grin.
~~~~~
Sandru chuckles.
"I'm not worried about what's on the other side of the world, Shunsen. I'm worried about what we'll find on the way there." He sighs. "Or, rather, what's going to find us. But it sounds like there's no swaying her from her this and I don't abandon my friends ... no matter how hard-headed they may be acting. I just hope we have the skills to keep everyone safe."
~~~~~
Cailyn leans forward as well, looking rather suspicious, but not in a nefarious way, just potentially in 'she drank that last drink too quickly' way. "Geographically, we would be more 'Middle-ers' since we are not from Mwangi, but I understand it is easier to label based on relative instead of absolute." Cailyn smiles brightly, just letting her thoughts settle at the surprise friend from a land that seems to want to gut them too much and too often.
"While tales such as these are lovely, truly, and I personally would delight in spread them about this Longthews, I think they are worth a little barter, in times such as these."
"And yes, I know you already provided an initial bid, I just want to know why he was on the outs with all the local merchant guilds. It's like a book without the backstory."
Uksahkka is extremely guarded, but seems entirely sincere. She's masking her worry, but not very well.
"Ulf has a tendency to ... rub people in the wrong way," she replies with an apologetic shrug. "The little social lies that people tell each other every day to avoid hurt feelings are something that he feels are unneeded. Consequently, it doesn't take long to find his personality is one that takes some getting used to and most people don't bother."
Her eyes move away and she takes another sip from her tankard.
"I've gotten used to him and I would hate to see something happen to him."